Embracing a zen approach to life

Shi-Yen Wu,Wai-Shing Li, Ren-Fong Gong, Taiwan

Explanatory Note

Yaroslavl is the historic part of the city, a World Heritage Site, is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Kotorosl Rivers. Yaroslavl saw a huge expansion in the size of its population over the course of the 17th century, and by the end of this century, the town had a population of around 15,000 people. This city as an important transportation connecting to Moscow, Vologda, Rybinsk, Kostroma, Ivanovo and Kirov.

Meanwhile Yaroslavl also has a river port and airport. The city is divided into six districts: Dzerzhinsky District, the Volga region, Kirov region, Krasnoperekopsk area, Lenin District, Frunze. Founded in the eleventh century and reached its peak in the development of the seventeenth century, the city’s historic center is located at the confluence of the Volga and Kotorosl river, Meanwhile Yaroslavl has always been considered one of the main components of regions of Russia Circle. It is also an industrial city.

The bridge is north of the downtown, the countryside is near to the bridge at the southern part. The church is the main cultural heritage for the city and connect to the bridge, so the church become the most close to the countryside also it’s the most quiet, the green path and river surrounding the bridge and mixed with each other turn into the synthesis of a sacred.

Under the bridge space connected the city is caused by shadowing, darkness, or even ignored, but people will find some methods to reach out the space under the bridge. The city of Globalization, the under the bridge space with urban has become not the same it is a diverse ecological environment, will not be the city’s air pollution, as interpersonal relationships with each other to be able maintain at a good environment for a long time, and the connection between the cities also need such a distinctive bridge space.

Under the bridge space can be present by different form, which can be reflected in the concept of a urban border. It can be a peaceful and relaxing space, it can be close to nature in that space. So we try to make a quiet space and close to nature combined with the complex texture of urban border, the space has been redefined form under the bridge it has been transformative.

Rivers is a method of forming a under the bridge space, the river as a train to cutting the city it not the same as that we may build subways and bridges to avoid the tracks, we can only use the bridge to avoid the river but the bridges and subways is not the same, the bridge is a very open space appropriate for a long time to stay, and the subway has darkness, poor air circulation, and many factors. We hope that through the theme of under the bridge to identify urban cultural, hydrological, and urbanization problems and to solve them, from another point of view to explore under the bridge of the city. In addition to Russia, many cities and countries was abandoned and idle for under the bridge space, but after reactivation of another new scene. We thinking about the under the bridge space and river combine with each other, we were defined a religious ideas, religious giving us the impression that the quiet, self-contemplation and reflection, so we want to join this concept in the space of under the bridge, so character of the space is highlighted. From the quality we want to recognize them on the existing location to emphasizing them, it becomes dramatic from this order to make the space of under the bridge and the city to get redefinition.

If suspended from the ground the weight should be floating, then the answer to the inevitable is to break the symmetry! We want to be able to design a floating bridge to allow users to see a dynamic and flexible design, instead of usual bridge connecting the two sides, so outside the normal function of the bridge also given a space of hydrophilic to users. To let them close to natural, understanding from the natural and approach the river to feel it.

This concept comes from canoe, the bridge will change with different feelings when it is a wooden platform at low tide, for user who walk and have a good vision between the two sides; when high tide, the water variation can touch the meditation space, and the water is buoyancy can make the bridge with flexible. The overall structure of the beam through the floor plan of the original bridge linking the whole design seems to float in the water, with large external suspension system to achieve the overall balance.

From under the bridge green path make up by sitting space at the countryside and downtown , The church become the core values of this area, The one of the literary value of the Yaroslavl (Union from the city’s churches), to make the sitting area full of the sacred, bring out the holy activity -Zen, Zen is entering self- understanding, insight imagery environment by examining my self, close to natural, see the environment, to achieve understood that the road to practice.

Author:

Shi-Yen Wu, Wai-Shing Li, Ren-Fong Gong

We are the students of Department of Architecture, National United University of Taiwan, YEAR 4. We won some competition before at Taiwan